Niobium

Niobium is a Rare Refined Metal that can be acquired via space missions.

Production
The initial quantities of Niobium can be obtained from Space Destinations. The destination's content has to be revealed with Research Module first to uncover Niobium deposits there. After that Niobium can be recovered as any solid resource with a Cargo Bay.

After the first batches of Thermium are produced it becomes possible to refine more Niobium from Thermium:
 * Metal Refinery can produce more Niobium from Thermium in 1:1 proportion.
 * 100 kg Thermium = 100 kg Niobium.


 * Rock Crusher can produce Niobium and Sand from Thermium.
 * 100 kg Thermium = 50 kg Niobium + 50 kg Sand.

Usage
The main usage of Niobium is to produce Thermium inside the Molecular Forge.
 * 5 kg Niobium + 95 kg Tungsten = 100 kg Thermium.

Niobium increases the overheat temperature of buildings it was used to construct by 500°C and decor value by 50%. However, there is no strong reason to build anything with Niobium and not Thermium when Overheating bonus and Thermal Conductivity are considered, unless Tungsten supplies are low. As decorative material it also equals to Gold, which is more abundant.

Tips

 * Thermium can be converted into Niobium at 1:1 rate in the Metal Refinery. This is effectively converting 95 kg of Tungsten into Niobium, thus, only one or two trips to a Niobium-containing destination may be required to "prime" the further conversion. It is important to note, however, that Tungsten is a limited resource, as its only source is the initial amount of Wolframite ore in the Frozen Biome of the starting asteroid, or expensive space missions to destinations with Tungsten (or by melting abyssalite), so some care is required.

Ниобий